Starting work in the Dominican Republic we have unearthed an incredible story thanks to new partners in the work Terra-Genesis thank you for sharing Luke Smith

“More than 500 years ago, the Indigenous Peoples of the Greater Antilles – popularly referred to today as Taíno – were greeted by a different kind of storm: European colonization. From the late-15th century, Christopher Columbus and other representatives of the Spanish Crown carried out systematic campaigns of conquest over lands, resources, bodies and souls. The Caribbean was the experimental playground for what became an expansive and competitive quest among European powers to dominate and restructure the planet according to their ambitions, worldviews and value systems. As the first victims of this perfect storm, Taíno came to be written off as the world’s paradigmatic extinct Native.”

Although the story was known, what has had less attention is the resurrection of this tradition and acknowledgment of the lineage still living throughout the islands of the Caribbean 

“After centuries of purported extinction, the Taíno resurgence movement emerged around the time of the quincentennial celebrations of Columbus’ so-called discovery of the “New World” by people proclaiming themselves the survivors of the Caribbean’s colonial tempest. The movement developed as a collective effort mostly by diasporic Caribbeans from the islands of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, to explore and illuminate Native Caribbean survivals, and to organize around and assert Taíno identity and worldviews. Around the same time, Panchito Ramírez, hereditary cacique (chief) of Caridad de los Indios, Cuba, issued a mandate to “let the world know of our existence,” ending his community’s isolation, which, along with other unique geographic, political and historical factors had enabled them to maintain their Indigenous culture and identity throughout the post-Columbian era.”

Through the work, we will delve deeply into the history of land formation, biodiversity, and indigenous cultures of the Dominican Republic, but to have the gift of this story and movement to tap into from the beginning gives us a living lens to see the work through, which is incredible and exciting. The thought of potentially having the honour of being a small part of the reawakening of an indigenous tradition on the Island is awe-inspiring 

And with this deeper knowledge comes even deeper responsibility. It raises the question, is there a difference between honouring and reawakening something in the ether of the past and weaving a living history into the future?

The thought of just scratching the cultural surface of the local people and being hit with an explosion of tradition still bubbling inside, begging to be brought back into the light, brings a different feeling of motivation to me for the project. The layers upon layers of different cultures to wade through on our journey into what is the essence of this place and what is it calling for us to do  

Can this project be the catalyst of not only change but harmony? Harmony of people with land, harmony between indigenous and colonial, harmony between traditional and modernity, harmony within ourselves?

“Beyond material legacies and identity assertions, Taíno resurgence revolves around living in the world in a Native Caribbean way. Many in the movement call upon embodied memories of traditions and values disseminated across generations, often by family matriarchs, which espoused mindful relations in a world where all things have life, from plants, stones, rivers, forests, caves, sun and moon, to deceased relatives and disincarnate beings inhabiting their islands. Marilyn Balana’ni Díaz, Puerto Rican Taíno and principal abuela (grandmother) of the Taíno community Concilio Taíno Guatu-ma-cu a Borikén, emphasizes this relational sense of belonging: “You are part of nature. You’re not outside of it…. We are part of the plants. We are part of the cosmos.” What anthropologists might describe as “animism,” Cuban Taíno scholar-activist José Barreiro calls “world alive”; that is, engaging everything in the natural world, humans included, as conscious, agential and connected within a shared ecosystem.”

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/abuelas-ancestors-and-atabey-spirit-taino-resurgence